T-62 fuel tank

Armor/AFV Cold War
1

I found some images from Operation Danube that shows T-62 with an extra fuel tank on the right side. I wonder if these tanks are only stacked/lying on the tank to act like a jerrycan?

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Very interesting pic, never saw that before

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This fuel tank usually contains antifreeze rather than diesel.

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Interesting. But I wonder why it´s not present on all vehicles?

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This tank was also on the left side. Whether it contained fuel (diesel) or coolant is unclear. There was no right or left side.

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Looks like there’s some kind of stencil on it (or maybe it’s just a graffiti…)

H.P.

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not sure about the specific situation of the Soviet army at the time, but the armored forces of the People’s Liberation Army during the same period also adopted this practice, which usually depended on the climate of the troops’ stationed regions. The frequency of using antifreeze tanks was significantly higher among troops in northern China compared to those in the south. These tanks were typically fixed to the rear right side of the vehicle body. When not in use, they were removed and stored in the garage. I believe the Soviet army likely followed a similar approach to some extent.

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Very unobservant of me I should say. I’ve looked at numerous photos of this incident over the years because I’ve always wanted to do a diorama on it but didn’t notice those extra fuel cells.

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More great period images. Thanks Frenchy! The graffiti on the T-55 looks like a swastika?

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Yes, a reversed one.

Here’s another one

In this view, it looks like the extra tank (?) is covered

H.P.

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The vehicles of this event have stored chock blocks and other equipment if you look closely.

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Zooming in, it kind of looks like it says KASIGIN or something like that, with what appears to be a swastika after it. I don’t speak any Slavic languages, so I have no idea if this means anything in what I presume is Czech, and it also means I may be misreading it. But it certainly doesn’t look to me like it’s written in Cyrillic letters.

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